Passwords are a necessary pain

Security begins from the moment you boot your computer into the operating system. You have to enter a password to get on your computer desktop. You do have the security installed right? If not, we will be covering how to set up user accounts and password protect them in another article.

Okay, so now you have logged on to your computer desktop and you are ready to go to the Internet. Many sites require that you enter a user name and password to gain entry and identify yourself before proceeding. All secure web sites such as banks, credit card services and other financial institutions require strong passwords. Strong passwords contain at least 8 characters or more and must contain a upper case letter and a number in them. Even popular game sites such as Pogo or Cash Break require a password in order to play their free games. To make matters even more complicated, most financial sites require that you change your password every 60 days to prevent password theft.

A bit of password advice.

Never use the same password more than once Never use passwords that are easy to guess, such as phone number or pet names When possible use totally random letters and numbers Use passwords that contain at least one special character such as @ or $ Always write you passwords down and keep them in a safe place away from prying eyes. If you store your passwords on your computer in text file make sure to encrypt the document

So, now you are probably wondering how to perform all of these steps and keep your sanity. When I first started keeping my passwords at a level of higher security, I used a password generator and recorded them all in a password book. Today, I still have that very same password book with hundreds of pages and all organized alphabetically. The passwords I keep on my computer are all encrypted using a free program called axcrypt

However, I once found a program that had a master password and it would store all my passwords in one tidy spot. This program would even bring up the web site and input the information into the proper areas. The program was call autologon, but has no planned support for Vista. Recently I found a new program that does all of the things listed above and then some. Sticky Password will generate strong passwords for you, store them in a highly encrypted file and input the information on the site automatically. You can’t get much easier than that! The software sells for 24.95 and has a free trial download. If you have a lo of passwords to keep, I suggest you give this useful software a try.